Fatehabad, October 10
The land acquisition policy of the state government came in for a sharp criticism at a mahapanchayat organised by Gorakhpur farmers, who have been agitating to prevent the acquisition of their lands for the proposed nuclear plant being set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), here today.

Speakers alleged that fertile lands of farmers were being acquired by the state government for various projects. They said some of these projects were not welcomed by people and in many cases, the lands were later given to builders.

Though the agitating farmers could not bring senior leaders to the mahapanchayat, almost all political parties, except the ruling Congress, had their representatives.

Several former MLAs - Nishan Singh and Swatantar Bala Chaudhary from the INLD, Balbir Singh Chaudhary from the BJP, Harpal Singh from the CPM and Partap Singh Chautala - addressed the mahapanchayat.

Neelam Agarwal, working president of the Samast Bhartiya Party, Subhash Barala, state president of the kisan cell of the BJP, Nihal Singh Matana, district president of the HVP, Krishan Swaroop of the All-India Kisan Sabha, Swaran Singh Virk and Jai Chand Saharani of the CPI and Suman Lata Siwach, Balwan Singh Daulatpuria and Kuljit Singh Kuleria of the INLD also addressed the agitating farmers.

Ramesh Dalal, who led a recent agitation of farmers against the cyber city in Bahadurgarh, was also among the speakers.

Farmers agitating against acquisition in Sirsa also attended the mahapanchayat and offered their support to Gorakhpur farmers.

RTI activist and Ramon Magasaysay awardee Arvind Kejriwal said nuclear power was not a cheaper form of energy as was being propagated.

He claimed that the establishment of the nuclear power plant was fraught with several kinds of human risks and called upon people to oppose it.

Activists of the Lok Swaraj Abhiyan from Rajasthan also participated in the mahapanchayat and extended their support to the farmers’ agitation.

Meanwhile, the Gorakhpur farmers decided to call off their 36-day-old relay fast from today and announced that their 56-day-old dharna in front of the mini-secretariat would continue as usual.

The agitators announced that from now they would mobilise farmers from all districts to oppose the nuclear power plant being set up in their village.

Sonepat, October 10
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today claimed that Haryana had emerged as a force to reckon with in the sports arena in the past five years. This change had come about due to the new sports policy of his government.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said the way to grooming of sports talent had been paved by training facilities provided at the newly constructed stadia.

“As many as 137 stadiums have been completed. Under the ‘Play for India- Sports Talent Hunt programme’, 46,000 children in the age group of eight to 14 and 14-19 appeared in the selection process and 5,000 of them were selected for training. A monthly scholarship of Rs 1500 and Rs 2000 respectively will be provided to these children,” the CM said.

Hooda announced an academy of international standards for imparting training in boxing, wrestling, hockey, cricket and basket ball.

The CM paid tributes to former Haryana minister and freedom fighter Rizak Ram on his 12th death anniversary. “Rizak Ram was a man of principles, a great educationist and a visionary.

He worked for the welfare of the peasantry throughout his life and his contribution in eradication of social evils will always be remembered,” Hooda said.

Jaitirth Rai, MLA, son of the Rizak Ram, said his father was committed to the principle of simple living and high thinking and his role in promoting education would always be an example for others.

A delegation of commission agents and farmers met the CM and demanded that government agencies be directed to commence paddy procurement in the district grain markets.

Karnal: A euphoric Sports Minister, Gopal Kanda, today announced that winners at Commonwealth Games who belonged to Haryana would be awarded.

Claiming that the sports policy of the state had contributed largely to the success of sportspersons at the Games, he said Haryana had bagged the maximum number of gold medals owing to the incentives given to budding players by the government.

The Haryana police had made a provision for three per cent reservation in jobs to outstanding sportspersons, he told mediapersons here.

This would also serve as a major incentive to the upcoming players, the minister maintained.

He said 171 Khel Parishads were coming up in rural areas to spot talent ed players, hone their skills and prepare them to compete at the national and international fora.He announced sportspersons who had won laurels for the nation and Haryana at the Games would be awarded and honoured.

He complimented the coaches for putting in their best to train the sportspersons and said they would also be honoured by the government.

Claims and announcements apart, the minister has so far not bothered to visit the family of local lad Harpreet Singh who has won two gold medals in shooting. Harpreet’s family and friends celebrated his victory with fireworks here today. — TNS

Karnal, October 10
Giving a twist to the prolonged struggle for separate sikh gurdwara committee for the state, HSGPC (ad hoc) president Jagdish Singh Jhinda today called upon the Sikh sangat to start “Asahayog Aandolan” (non-cooperation) and urged them not to make any “offering” in the eight main gurdwaras in the state, directly managed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Alleging that the SGPC was only concerned about money, he urged the people of the state to offer food, clothing and fruits instead of cash in all eight gurdwaras - Nada Sahib, Panchkula, Manju Sahib and Panjokra Sahib in Ambala, Gopal Mochan in Yamunanagar, Chhevin Patshahi in Kurukshetra, Damtam Sahib and Navipatshahi in Jind and Chhati and Navi Patshahi in Kaithal.

Jhinda, who was here to honour the HSGPC workers who went to jail during the “Jail bharo abhiyan”, claimed that the government released them under the pressure of the Sikh sangat and they did not sign any bond.

He reiterated that the “Jail bharo aandolan” would continue and the HSGPC leaders would go to all districts, tehsils and blocks to mobilise support for the agitation.

He said an 11-member jatha from Nimonabad village in Jind courted arrest yesterday while another jatha from Kherisharpari village in Mandi Dabwali courted arrest today.

The government was under so much pressure that the police was not arresting the HSGPC members and instead of lodging them in the jail, they were letting them free after three or four hours.

He said from tomorrow, 11 members of the village gurdwara prabandhk committee and elected gram panchayat representatives would court arrest. 

Panipat, October 10
Perturbed at the rising incidents of robbery at petrol stations in the state, IG of Rohtak Range V. Kamaraj has issued directions to petrol stations to refuse fuel to vehicles without a proper number plate.

The directions are to be enforced in Sonepat, Panipat, Jhajjar, Karnal and Rohtak districts.

The IG said most of the time, criminals either used stolen vehicles or those which did not have proper number plates.

With eye-witnesses unable to provide the registration number of the crime vehicle, it was very difficult for the police to track down the culprits.

Also, the measure would help bring down the cases of vehicle theft. In a majority of cases, stolen vehicles were given a fake number plate so as to deceive the law enforcing agencies.

The IG also asked those working at the petrol stations to immediately inform the police of any vehicle that raised suspicion in their minds.

More than 5,451 cases of vehicle theft were reported in the state from January to September this year, the IG said. This was alarming.

Jhajjar, October 10
The State Government has decided that special kitchens in all schools will prepare the mid-day meals for the students.

Vital instructions have been issued to prepare the meals for the primary and upper primary schools of the same campus, Geeta Bhukkal, Haryana 
Education and Health Minister, said.

“Special care is also being taken for the cook’s personal hygiene, who will prepare the mid-day meal, to ensure clean and hygienic food is being provided to the children. The facility of mid-day meals is also being extended to the students up to the class VIII,” said the 
minister, Bhukkal said the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 is also being implemented effectively in the State.

The State Government also decided to refund the fee charged in the beginning of this academic session in order to ensure provision of free education to the children of classes up to VIII. The State Government has been taking all necessary steps to improve the quality of education in the state.

“Sustained efforts are being made by the government to make Haryana self-sufficient in power by 2012-13. The year 2010 is being observed as 'Urja Varsh' in the State,” Bhukkal said.

She further added construction work of 1500 MW Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Plant at Jharli and 1320 MW Mahatma Gandhi Super Thermal Power Plant in Jhajjar district was going on and would be completed soon.

Hisar, October 10
Faced with an acute shortage of sweepers, the local Municipal Corporation has decided to go in for mechanical road sweepers.

Officials said the city’s main roads would be swept and washed every night by giant mechanical sweepers for which tenders had been invited.

Each machine would have the capacity to collect 5,000 kilos of garbage and dust from the roads.

These would be equipped with high-pressure water-spraying nozzles. Powered by 100 hp engines, these machines would sweep the roads noiselessly during the night. These would have a top speed of 30 km an hour.

The corporation has 400 sweepers and needs 1,000 more. 

Sirsa, October 10
Of the 60,000-odd families living in five municipal towns of Sirsa district, as many as 31,773 are enjoying the benefits meant for those living the below the poverty line (BPL). Interestingly, several of these families are affluent.

The benefits include subsidised foodgrains through the public distribution system, subsidised loan up to Rs 2 lakh under the self-employment scheme, preferential quota in HUDA and Haryana Housing Board schemes and a large number of social welfare schemes initiated by the Central and the state governments.

The Government of India norms provide for declaring 10 per cent of the total urban families as the BPL, based on their monthly income and some other parameters.

Under these norms, 6,057 families in the five municipal towns of Sirsa, Dabwali, Rania, Ellenabad and Kalanwali have been registered under the BPL category.

Of these 6,057 families, 3,713 families are registered as poorest of the poor under the Antodaya Ann Yojna (AAY). The AAY families are provided pinks cards, while the other BPL families are given yellow cards.

However, in the list prepared under the Haryana Government’s quota, the number has reached 31,773 families.

Those having a pink card get foodgrains at Rs 2 per kg, while the other BPL families with yellow cards get these at Rs 5 per kg.

The practice of the rich enjoying the benefits meant for the poor has been continuing for long and the district authorities appear to have woken up from their slumber now and have started issuing notices to doubtful cases.

“We called a meeting of councillors of the five towns recently and almost all members complained about bogus registrations,” said Additional Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Chaudhary.

She said it had come to the notice of the authorities that even those who owned costly houses, vehicles and had decent earnings had got themselves registered fraudulently.

Suresh Goyal, assistant project officer in the District Urban Development Agency, said notices had been dispatched and the process was continuing.

Complaint boxes had been installed in the offices of the five municipalities, where people could make anonymous complaints without the fear of being exposed, he said.

Those who failed to volunteer for deletion of their names despite being ineligible beneficiaries, would invite criminal action, said the Additional Deputy Commissioner.

Jind, October 10
The state will soon have 4,000 new buses to ply on various state and interstate routes. The addition of new buses in the state transport network will help in tackling the problem of shortage of buses and services on various routes.

Announcing this, state Transport Minister Om Prakash Jain said here yesterday that the state government was very clear in implementing its policy of improving and providing the best public transport system in the country.

Stating that several buses would be air-conditioned, he said the government would ensure that there was no shortage of staff or the required infrastructure to maintain the transport network.

Asked about the recent hike in the bus fare, he said it was just a nominal increase and would not affect the pocket of a general commuter.

The bus fares in the state were less as compared to fares in other states, he added. While the Haryana Roadways Workers Union has strongly opposed the move of privatisation of the department, it had asked the government to focus its attention on improving the services of the Haryana Roadways by including as many as 10,000 new buses in the department to meet the problem of shortage of buses.

The department has about 3,500 buses at present.

The shortage of buses on many routes had helped the growth of private transport mafia in the state, which had not only been exploiting the people, but had also been posing a risk to the lives of commuters through unsafe driving, claimed a spokesperson for the Sarv Karamchari Sangh.

Gurgaon, October 10
Gurgaon Municipal Corporation (MCG) will now lodge FIR’s against persons disposing garbage in the open. A provision of imprisonment for six months is already there under the Municipal Act for such violators.

Addressing the issue, Rajesh Khullar, Local Municipal Commissioner, called a meeting of developers, colonisers, representatives of Group Housing Societies and other commercial establishments.

“FIR will be lodged under Section 188 of IPC against those found violating the directions,” he said, adding that under Section 292 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act 1994, the persons disposing garbage in open can be imprisoned for up to six months.

“Those found dumping garbage anywhere else will be booked and the housing societies will also be held responsible for it along with the contractors,” Khullar added.

Following the guidelines, the MCG has made it mandatory for all contractors of the group housing societies, colonies and commercial establishments to dispose the garbage at Bandhwari only. Tthe housing society’s representatives were appealedto direct their garbage-lifting contractors to dump it only at the Bandhwari plant.

“A record of the receipts will be issued upon dumping garbage at the plant, should be maintained,” Khullar said. He further offered his support to ensure appropriate garbage disposal. 

Rohtak, October 10
“The problem of obesity among the people had gone up recently and it had resulted in multifarious type of ill-effects. One of the main fallout of this disease could be in the form of psychological disorders.” This was stated by Dr Harpreet Singh, senior professor in the Department of Medicine, PGIMS, here.

Speaking on the occasion of the ”Mental Health Week” programme, organised by the Department of Psychiatry of the institute, Dr Singh claimed that obesity and mental health were closely related and any problem on the general health of a person could reflect in disorder of other type and the issue required a thorough awareness among the masses. Dr PS Gehlot chaired the function yesterday, the seventh day of the ongoing programme.

Dr Singh said the management of obesity was very crucial as it could lead to the change in mental status of an individual. He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had put the disease into the group of global epidemic and it had warned that obesity could be the single biggest killer on the planet by 2020.

Stating that at present about 300 million adults were obese worldwide and it had an affect on all ages and socio-economic groups, he said there had been a simple association between obesity, depression and anxiety.

“These diseases had been directly associated with unhealthy behaviour and practices such as poor diet, physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle, use of tobacco and heavy alcohol consumption,” he said.

Obesity triggers psychological disorders such as dietary disorders, distorted body image and low self esteem apart from many other diseases, he added.

According to Dr Singh, “Understanding the connection between obesity and mental disorders was quite important because both these conditions had a significant implication on health care system across the world. Recent studies had confirmed existence of the link between depression and obesity.”

The senior professor said management aspect becomes important to control not only the main disease but also the disorders associated with it.

The best way to manage obesity was to increase physical activities and to consulti experts.